Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

An up-Hill battle

ST. PETERSBURG — I thought coming to St. Pete would allow us a chance to catch up with second baseman Aaron Hill, who has been residing in Florida these days while he tries to come back from his nasty concussion.

Unfortunately for us scribes, Hill was a no-show at the workout on Thursday and wasn’t with the team prior to Friday’s game. We did chat with Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi, who has resorted to shrugs when asked about Hill’s status.

Ricciardi said nobody’s told him to start worrying that Hill may be entering Corey Koskie territory here. But we did ask Ricciardi if it’s starting to approach a point where the Blue Jays believe Hill could possibly be done for the year.

“I think that’s how we’re looking now,” Ricciardi said. “I don’t think he is done for the year — unless someone tells us he is — but we’re preparing for a worst-base scenario.”

Needless to say, the Jays aren’t sounding very confident about Hill’s chances to make a swift return from the post-concussion symptoms he’s had since colliding with David Eckstein in late May. Hopefully, Hill can make a full return.

IN OTHER NEWS: Shaun Marcum is now the tentative starter for Tuesday in Baltimore. On Thursday, Marcum spun four perfect innings with six strikeouts for Class A Dunedin. If all goes according to plan, he’ll be activated from the DL to make the start … Righty Dustin McGowan (right shoulder) will be re-evaluated by Dr. Timothy Kremchek in two weeks. … In relation to trade rumors about A.J. Burnett, Ricciardi said, “I don’t see A.J. going anywhere.”

WHAT A KNIGHT: Thanks to Mark Zwolinksi of the Star for gutting it out to go see the midnight showing of The Dark Knight with me last night. Man, that was a spec-freakin-tacular film. Heath Ledger was amazing and the movie was strong. I didn’t get to bed until 4 a.m., but it was worth the lack of sleep. Go see it. I know I’m seeing it at least once more.

I just returned from watching it and I echo Jordan’s thoughts about The Dark Knight. It was spectacular and Heath Ledger left with a bang. I too will see it again once my girlfriend gets back from Poland.

Devastating news about Aaron Hill and I really hope his career isn’t in jeopardy.
Sumner, I thought you made a very good point in Jordan’s previous entry about trading Halladay, Ryan and Burnett. I’d hate to see any of those guys go but if that’s what it takes to rebuild the team quicker then so be it. Halladay would take alot for me to like the fact that he’d be traded. My reason is because not only is he one of the best pitchers in baseball but he’s also underpayed (as per market value) and that is really rare.

Also, I haven’t been watching much of the games lately but from what I see from the boxscores I think Rod Barajas’ run as starting catcher should be over. Zaun should be playing the majority of the games again. I’m not blaming him for the loss but I think he’s in a funk right now.

Heath Ledger doesn’t seem funny enough to me to play that role. Also, I don’t see how Ledger can follow up Jack, in that role. I have my doubts, but the movie is getting rave reviews, so I’m likely wrong.

This Joker wasn’t meant to be funny. He’s alot more darker then Tim Burton’s version. Heath played the role really well and I too was a fan of Jack’s joker. I highly doubt you’d be disappointed if you choose to watch it.

JP is quoted today as saying that he has had no calls about any player with regards to trades. I find that astonishing. That said, if it is true, why do you think it is true? Are there no suitors for Burntett or any of our other guys, or is JP asking too much, or does he want to try and finish with the best record possible to save his job? Any ideas why teams are not contacting us, especially as Burnett is doing all he can humanly do to pitch his way out of toronto?

It looks like we are sellers for sure.Even if we win two thirds of the games left we will still not have enough wins to make the playoffs,the only problem is we don’t have anyone that has any value to trade.

Matt Stairs will bring a -B-prospect.

Eckstein the same.

Barahas the same.

Burnett who knows it seems no one wants him so even if we find a taker we won’t get anything for him.

In my opinion the Jays will not see the playoffs for many years to come not as long as we are in the same divison as New York and Boston.

Im with gsumner on Campbell bring him up now and see what he’s got ,he’s tearing the minors up so let’s give him a try also bring up Dias.

I was looking at the Jays payroll and next year with the increae in salares for these players-Doc-Wells-Overbay-Rios-Downs-and Hill-it totals 14million 4 hundred and 75 thousand we will save 1.8 mill. on Glaus 10 mil on Thomas.and 750 thousand on Johnson.that will not leave any extra money in the coffers but it will leave a loss way to go JP.

Burt-isn’t it amazing how JP lies. In this statement he says he has had no calls about any player with regards to trades.
If that’s the case why did he have his director of player personal, down in AA looking at a Philles affiliate game at the same time Philly scouts were in the stands with radar guns in Burnett’s start. I guess this just all happened by coincidence-right.
I wonder what he’s thinking of when he says this stuff-does he really believe everyone he’s talking to actually believes this crap.
I also question Godfrey on this issue, since he’s been part of numerous JP lies. Where is Ted Rogers on on this? Our ship is sinking and we have management on this team that are incompetent who lie to their fan base and press everytime they get a chance.
Not the way to run a railroad.

Dear all:
Here is something to think about. Let’s say that our friend Burnett actually continues to pitch the way he is in order to land himself a substantial contract through free agency. This would mean that for the first time in his career, he may be a 20-game winner. (I’m not saying this will happen, but let’s assume it does.) What this means is that we have a general manager who is so incompetent, he was unable to unload a potential 20-game winner in a climate where if I had an extra 10 miles or so on my fastball, I might even be given a contract! This is ridiculous. The only logical reason for saying that no one has contacted the Jays regarding Burnett is to cover up the fact that you were too incompetent to move him. My guess is that JP is being too greedy, and the other GMs know it. If no one is contacting JP, why is JP not contacting other teams? Why is he not being creative and packaging Burnett with some other players who have more time left on their contract. There are plenty of things that can be done by a savy general manager, unforunately, we don’t have one of those!

I’m not convinced JP wants to move Burnett, I think JP thinks the same thing-that Burnett will have a good second half-which will help the Jays. For JP, it’s all about saving his skin-he could care less about the future. If Burnett can help him for this season to ensure he’s still here for next-then he will keep him.
Unfortunately, it’s not the right thing to do for the club. With pitching in such high demand by numerous clubs, we should be able to have a bidding contest for Burnett, like Cleveland did with Sabathia.

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